Conservationists released 8,000 Chinese sturgeon into the Yangtze River on Wednesday.

Researchers from the Chinese Sturgeon Research Center said that introducing such a large amount of captive-bred sturgeon into their "original home" will help increase their survival rate, China News Service reported.

The sturgeon, which were released at Yichang city in Central China's Hubei province, are rich in generic diversity and will help boost the recovery of the rare aquatic species in the wild.

The center has put more than 5 million Chinese sturgeon back into the Yangtze River in the past three decades.

Experts said all sturgeon sent back to nature are from the second generation of artificial breeding, younger than 4 years old with lengths of 20 to 200 cm.

Researchers plan to study the data collected on the Chinese surgeons' migration activities.